Jan. 14 Letters: Gun violence, fiscal choices

January 13, 2013

Gun Regulations

There seems to be a majority of opinion expressed [lately] that gun control is hotly disfavored as a means to stop mass murder of innocent citizens and children.

The opinion expressed by most are similar to [those of Wayne LaPierre] the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association (NRA). The idea expressed by Mr. LaPierre is to arm teachers and hire policemen to keep children safe in schools. He also feels that a good guy killing a bad guy is the way to keep citizens and children safe.

It takes months and months to become familiar and relaxed yet safely handle a deadly weapon; and teachers have plenty to keep them busy teaching children. I'm an old weapons expert and I can say for sure that it takes months to become comfortable and familiar with a weapon. I can attest to that because I was once a proud member of the 2nd battalion 504th Combat Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division.

As far as I know, only certified lunatics and felons are unable to purchase a weapon legally — that is if the seller does a background check.

We need to register every weapon with the local police. All semi-automatics and automatics should be outlawed. [Owners] of these weapons should face mandatory jail time. The only way to stop mass murder in our society is to remove these deadly weapons. from ownership. The killings [will continue if we] allow the unrecorded purchase of weapons of mass murder.

John Marshell

Gloucester

I'm saddened that letter-writer Thomas Bender sees "moral decay (Jan. 6)" as cause of all our societal troubles. But he seems to base his premise on rather shaky "facts."

He [maintains] gun-related crimes in the UK have "greatly increased" since they prohibited citizens from carrying firearms (they never banned them all from even having them in the house).

Do you know what the gun homicide rate for the entire UK (not just England) was the last year the BBC has statistics for? Fifty-nine. Yes, 59 in one year, for a population of 63 million. That's like what Chicago, St. Louis or Memphis [might] experience in a single holiday weekend. And for all gun-related crimes, the trend is actually going down, not up. (Again, using the BBC's stats.)

The Australian gun homicide rates, according to their own statistics, have not increased in the decade following their gun buy-back efforts; in fact, they've gone down a little. And armed robberies have declined steadily over the past 18 years, and are now less than half of the 1995 percentage.

In Canada, the homicide rate fell to a 44-year low in 2011. And Mr. Bender's statement that the U.S. has the "strictest" gun control of the above-mentioned nations…Well, [there is no other word...] it is simply ludicrous.

The states allowing concealed-carry had lower gun-related crime rates before their citizens were allowed to carry concealed firearms. And a concealed carry permit is what allows someone who's gone over the edge to walk into a school, theater, church or mall loaded for a massacre without being detected.

Mary Margaret Towey

Fort Monroe

Devalued future

Republicans have done a poor job of explaining how deficit spending hurts ordinary people. This spending increased massively in response to the crash of 2008 , but no one imagined it would last four and now eight more years. The money for it is being raised by obligating future taxpayers. It is being done without selling bonds.

Treasury bonds are issued to the Federal Reserve to be repaid with tax receipts at some unspecified future date. They are the collateral by which the Federal Reserve, which is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the currency, authorizes the Treasury to print new money.

Eventually this new money circulates through the vast pool of dollars used in trade worldwide and dilutes their purchasing power. There are more dollars but their unit value is less.

The president has implied this spending can be offset by a tax on the rich and has asked for $1.6 trillion in new taxes over 10 years. The money created during his time in office however will be five times as much in four more years as will be raised by these taxes in 10.

This process robs purchasing power from the savings of those who must provide for their own future. Most are not rich, but their savings are the untapped source of wealth that will fund this spending. When these people need their money it will be paid to them in a degraded currency.

Americans are rightly furious with the rapacious gang that caused the crash of 2008. They think of such people as "the rich." These people will pay increased taxes going forward and so will many others, but the lion's share of the spending power the president will tap to fund his programs will be taken from ordinary people.